The Phantom and the Barber
by VioletIsabelleLovett
Summary: With Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett in Paris, their story takes place. Erik and Meg are witnesses, and Meg is terrified. Rated T for some blood in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

**This one will have chapters…and I will make myself finish it! XD Review, my good people! Yes, I know Sweeney Todd technically takes place in London, not Paris…just bear with me here, okay? Thanks! **

Of course, it just had to rain.

The one time Erik decided to leave the dark and somewhat dreary cellar of the Paris opera house, it had to downpour. Lightning streaked across the sky, and thunder crashed in Erik's ears.

He had no choice but to take shelter. Running into a small shop, he quickly sat down at a table. There was one other man sitting on the other side of the shop, and a woman chopping some foul-smelling meat at the counter. It was a tiny restaurant, seemingly only owned by the one woman.

"Aha, a customer!" the woman said cheerfully. "It ain't often we get customers 'round here! Relax, make yourself at home, love. That storm doesn't look like it's letting up anytime soon."

Erik nodded, not looking at her. "Thank you."

Much to Erik's surprise, she made no comment of the mask. Most did.

She walked over him and placed a meat pie in front of him. "Eat it up love. We got plenty to spare around here…"

Erik cautiously took a bite. It tasted like salted wood. Forcing himself not to gag, he swallowed it, shuddering.

"Ha, don't bother eatin' the rest, love. It's alright. I won't charge ya…"

Erik nodded, grimacing at the bad taste.

"My friend over here," she continued, gesturing at the other man who was sitting in silence. "Mr. Sweeney Todd, is an excellent barber. You won't find another man that can match his skill; I swear that to you love."

The man named Sweeney Todd gave a small smile, but his eyes were far away.

Erik nodded again. "I'll keep that in mind, madame."

Smiling at Erik, she walked back to the counter and started chopping away at the meat without much enthusiasm.

"Where do you live, love? Close by? I live right here in the shop. My home is part of it, as you may be able to see if you walk into the next room."

Erik frowned. "Yes…I am close by…"

Mrs. Lovett chuckled. "Well then, I hope that you'll be stopping in often! Don't ya worry love; I won't be making you eat. But even with Mr. Todd here, a woman gets lonely…

Erik stayed there for a half hour, sitting in silence. Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd talked quietly amongst themselves as the rain continued to pour. Once the rain had slowed, Erik got up and walked towards the door.

"Thanks for stopping in love. I appreciate it."

Erik nodded at her again, before stepping outside into the rain. Pulling his cloak around him, he walked back to the Paris Opera House alone.

**Just a prologue, don't worry! Like I said before, there will be chapters. Review, my good people!**


	2. Meat Pies!

**Chapter two!**

The little shop that Erik had visited on that stormy afternoon had changed dramatically over the course of a week.

Quickly it had gone from being a shabby little store on the side of the road, to becoming one of the best restaurants in Paris.

They were so delicious; people came from miles around just to try Mrs. Lovett's new meat pie recipe. But of course, Mrs. Lovett never gave even the slightest hint of what her secret was…

"Family secret, all to do with herbs darling!"

She'd tell this to one customer after the next. Only she and Sweeney Todd knew its true ingredients, and customers often saw her giving a sly wink to him after refusing to tell her secret.

A little boy, probably the age of ten or eleven was employed to help, but other than that, it was just the two of them serving the dozens of customers that poured into the shop. The customers tried to get the recepie out of the boy, but he didn't even know himself.

Meg Giry was one of many who loved to eat at Mrs. Lovett's. She often stopped in for lunch after a long day at the opera house, rehearsing her ballet.

"Benjamin, hey!" she called out to her friend, who was entering the shop. She waved him over to her table.

"Hey Meg. Not as crowded today, thank God…Had to wait for almost an hour to get a seat yesterday."

Meg laughed. "Yeah, I know. I haven't seen you in weeks. Where've you been?"

Benjamin grimaced. "Busy with college. I'm going to be a master mason, like my father. It's what he always wanted…"

Meg frowned. "But is that what you want to do?"

Benjamin shrugged. "I don't know…I've always kind of wanted to be an artist, like a painter, maybe. But Father said it's just a waste of time, that artists are nothing but fools…Mother approves though, but she'd never say anything to him."

Meg bit her lip. "I'm sorry…here, sit. Are you hungry?"

Benjamin grinned. "Starving. I'm going to wait though, this barber, Sweeney Todd, is suppose to be the best in Paris. I'm in serious need of a good shave."

Meg nodded. "Yeah, go ahead. I'll see you when you're done."

Benjamin walked up to the barber shop just as Mrs. Lovett hurried over to Meg's table. "We just got some fresh supplies dear! One meat pie?"

Meg smiled "Two, please. One for my friend."

Mrs. Lovett nodded, anxiously. "Right then. It'll be about twenty minutes."

Meg nodded, and Mrs. Lovett left.

After about a half an hour, Benjamin still didn't return. Meg decided to see if he was done.

Walking up the staircase, Meg hesitantly knocked on the door. "Come in." came a man's reply.

Meg walked into the dreary little shop, but Benjamin was no where inside. She saw the barber standing by the chair, cleaning his razor.

"Um, excuse me…was a man named Benjamin here?"

The barber nodded, not looking up at her. "Yes…I believe so."

Meg frowned. "Um…he never came back down-"

The barber pointed to the door on the opposite wall that led to a staircase outside.

"He was in a hurry. Went down those steps."

Meg frowned. "Oh…okay…uh, thanks." She walked back downstairs.

_Well, that's annoying. Way to stand me up, Benjamin..._

Meg finished her pie, and brought the second one back to the opera house. She'd always wanted her mother to try one of the pies anyway…

Meg had escaped the horrors of that place for now, although, she had no idea. She was lucky to be alive, for the barber had been considering to slit her throat then and there…

**Corny? I'm sorry. XD Honest reviews will do me well.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here is it, chapter 3. Sorry it took so long to update, stupid computer…*glares***

For the next few weeks, Meg didn't see Joseph.

She figured he was busy with college, like he had said, and she had long-forgotten her anger of him standing her up.

Meg was now walking to the library. It was a Sunday, and she was off from ballet practice. Going by the back of Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop, Meg spotted one of her mother's friends walking up the steps that lead to the barber shop.

Just as he was beginning to walk up, she saw his wallet fall from his pocket and onto the ground.

"Oh, monsieur! Monsieur Janson! You dropped this-"

He was already inside the barber shop, and did not hear.

Jogging up to the shop, Meg picked up his wallet and took it upstairs to return it to M. Janson. But when she got to the door, what she saw made her whole body freeze in horror.

Just as M. Janson sat down, the barber slit M. Janson's throat with his razor, causing blood to spurt everywhere. The barber then pulled a lever, and the chair holding M. Janson's body tipped back, causing his body to fall through a trap-door. With a calm face, the barber then began cleaning off his razor.

He still didn't see Meg at the door.

In her horror, Meg barely noticed that she was getting dizzy, that her head suddenly felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. Her vision blurred, and she toppled down the steps and onto the sidewalk.

It was such a nice day, and Erik tried to take advantage of it. It was chilly for April, but the sun shone brightly with no threat of rain like last week.

Walking on the opposite side of Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop, Erik noticed an older girl, maybe nineteen or twenty, passed out on the sidewalk. Erik almost immediately assumed she was some prostitute, passed out drunk from last night, but something about the blonde hair seemed familiar…

Taking a closer look at the girl, Erik saw with horror that it was Antoinette Giry's little daughter, Meg. _What in the name of God were you doing Giry?_

Antoinette would never forgive him if he just left Meg there. Hoping not to scare her, he gently shook her awake. "Meg…Meg!"

She woke suddenly, and started hyperventilating.

"Meg, be calm! I'm not going to hurt you!"

Meg shook her head, her eyes widening in terror. She was looking past him, and starting to shake.

"Meg, what's wrong? Am I scaring you?"

She shook her head again, breathing in large gulps. "Oh, oh God, oh God, oh God…"

Erik pulled Meg to her feet. Grabbing her shoulders, he stared at her straight in the eyes. "Meg, did someone hurt you?"

Her body racked with shakes. "B-b-barber. B-b-barber."

She barely spoke over a whisper.

Looking up, Erik frowned. "Up there?" he asked, pointing at the barber shop. "Did he hurt you?"

Meg continued to shake. "N-no…he-he killed, he killed…" She dropped to her knees, her legs shaking too badly to support her.

Pulling her up again, Erik managed to take her back to the opera house and through the passage way that would take him down to his lair. Meg didn't say anything about where they were going, or even who he was. She was literally frightened out of her senses.

When Erik finally brought Meg down, she collapsed to her knees again, struggling to take even breaths.

"Meg, you're safe now! For God's sake, what happened?"

Meg started crying. "I-I was walking up the s-stairs, to r-return someone's wallet, and-and the barber, he-he killed him…with his razor…and, and oh God…there was b-blood everywhere…"

Erik gasped. "Was this barber shop above Mrs. Lovett's Pie Shop?"

Meg nodded.

_So that man that was in the shop that day is a killer. The question is, who else? Or was that man the only one?_

"Meg, did you see what the barber did with the body?"

Meg's eyes widened. "T-trap d-d-door…the chair tipped back, and the body fell through a trap door…"

_So that means the body went down into the cellars of the meat pie shop…Does Mrs. Lovett know that?_

"Monsieur…" Meg whispered. "I'm so scared. Can't you do something?"

Erik put his head in his hands. Was he really going to get himself wrapped up in all of this? _She _is_ Madame Giry's daughter…And I owe a debt to Madame._

"Yes, I can…I'm going to take you up to your mother now, Meg. I want you to tell her what you saw. But tell her…that Erik has it under control…and that he will take care of it. She will know who you're talking about."

Meg nodded, and allowed Erik to take her back to her room.

_You're going to regret this…_

Hours later, Erik stood outside the barber shop, gazing up at the staircase. _Let's see what's going on._ Then he walked up the steps, and into the shop.

**Thanks again for reading, next chapter coming up real soon!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four! Yay!**

The streets were dark, and there was no moon. Erik didn't mind, he knew where he was going. Everything was extremely still.

_This is for Madame Giry, I owe her...she has shown me nothing but kindness…The least I can do is help her daughter._

Erik stared up at the barber shop. It looked very, very eerie in the dark, like a place of hell…

_If Giry is right, it __**is**__ a place of hell._

Erik cautiously climbed the steps, making no noise. He was ready to react to the slightest disturbance. Peering inside, he saw that the shop was empty, a "closed" sign hanging in the window.

Erik slowly opened the door, wincing as it creaked. He stepped inside and closed the door quietly.

The shop was very dark, and very small. A single chair stood in the middle of the shop, and a mirror stood in the corner. On the mirror stand was a barber knife, and a few other objects that Erik could not see.

Erik walked over to the chair, and examined it. There was a long lever next to the chair. Erik pulled it, and nearly gasped out loud.

The chair tipped back and a trap door opened up in the floor. All it would take was for someone to sit down in the chair, and they'd be sent to their death.

Erik peered down the chute, trying to see what was at the bottom. All he saw was darkness.

_Giry, you were right. Oh my God…_

Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett were sitting in the living room downstairs. The clock struck midnight and Mrs. Lovett yawned.

"Well darling, I'm quite exhausted. You gonna go up to bed soon?"

Sweeney nodded, closing his eyes.

Mrs. Lovett smiled. "Alright then love. I'll see you in the morning."

She walked into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Before going up to bed for the night, Sweeney walked up to his barber shop one more time. It was like a thinking place for him, a place where he felt safe and at ease. He needed to think, think about the years to come…

He really wasn't expecting to see a tall man in a white half-mask, dressed in black, peering down the opened trap door that lead to Mrs. Lovett's kitchen in the cellar.

Erik nearly jumped when he heard the door from the inside open. He had been so distracted by the trap-door that he hadn't been listening for footsteps. The barber stood in the doorway, nearly as startled as Erik.

The two men stared at each other for about three seconds, before the barber ran into the shop and grabbed his barber knife from the table. He charged at Erik, swinging the knife at Erik's neck.

Born with cat-like reflexes, Erik managed to jump out of the way, causing the blade to go whistling past his neck. The barber lunged again, this time knocking Erik against the wall with such force, that he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. In the dark room, it was almost impossible to see Erik. Sweeney slashed his razor, hitting skin. Blood sprayed across Sweeney's face.

Panting, the barber began to drag Erik's body to the trap-door. As he was about to shove the body in, he heard Mrs. Lovett's scream split the air from downstairs.

_My God, what the hell is her problem?_

Leaving the body on the floor for now, the barber raced downstairs only to find Mrs. Lovett standing on her bed in her nightgown, staring in horror at a large spider on the floor.

"Mr. T! That-that spider, it-it's awful big, I-"

Several things came to his mind that he would have loved to say to Mrs. Lovett, most of them involving rather foul language. Biting his tongue, he stepped on the spider, killing it quickly. Glaring at her, she gave a nervous laugh.

"Aha, sorry 'bout that, you know I don't like those nasty spiders, give me a fright, they do!"

Rolling his eyes, Sweeneyquickly explained the incident upstairs.

Mrs. Lovett gasped. "Mr. T…does-does that mean someone's found out?"

Sweeney shook his head. "He's dead now. If you hadn't screamed your bloody head off, he'd be in the cellar right about now."

Mrs. Lovett sighed in relief, and chuckled. "Sorry 'bout that love! Now go finish off with the body, I'll take care of it tomorrow."

Erik sat up, groaning. Everything hurt. His head was throbbing, and his shoulder felt like it was on fire where the barber had slashed him. Blood ran down his arm.

The barber was nowhere in sight.

Staggering out of the shop, he trudged back to the opera house. First, he'd tell Meg and Madame Giry everything that happened. Then he, Meg, and Madame Giry would contact the authorities.

The body was gone.

Sweeney stood in the middle of his shop, frozen with horror.

_It slipped, the body slipped into the trap-door when you ran downstairs, you just didn't realize it._

The body was a good five feet from the trap door when Sweeney had run downstairs.

_You missed his throat. You completely missed his throat and didn't kill him. The man escaped!_

The man probably went straight to the authorities.

Which meant he and Mrs. Lovett could be taken to jail, and put to death by hangman by tomorrow morning.

Sweeney gritted his teeth, as depression suddenly washed over him.

He'd never see Johanna again. He would never get revenge on the judge.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this, this wasn't the plan, this was _wrong_, all wrong…

_Oh Lucy, Johanna, I'm so sorry…_

All he cared about was killing the judge before he was taken in. That's all. If he got taken to prison, that was okay. He almost welcomed it.

If he got hanged, he'd be with Lucy, right?

Sweeney would have to think fast.

**Last chapter will be up soon! Thanks so much Epic One, for giving your comments.**


	5. The End

**You could call this chapter a wrap-up. More emotion than action, really. Hope it's still okay. Thanks so much, Epic One! :D**

Erik made it back to his home under the opera house, clutching his bleeding shoulder. He had faced injuries worse than this, just not in a long time.

He found Meg and Madame Giry waiting for him in his home in the cellars, Meg still shaking with sobs. When they saw him, Meg ran up to him and flung her arms around him.

"Meg…um, Meg…" Erik muttered uncomfortably.

Meg let go, smiling a little. "Sorry. What-what did you find?"

Erik grimaced. He didn't want to specify, to spare Meg any further nightmares. "You were right…that place is a nightmare. But you need to go to the authorities and report this. Now."

Madame Giry stood up. "Thank you, Erik." She stared at him intensely. "Thank you."

Erik nodded solemnly. Meg looked up at him. "Come with me…please?" she begged.

Erik frowned. "Yes…of course…"

The walk down the road to the police station was silent. Erik found that, for once, he wasn't thinking of Christine. Meg was good company. Not like most of the squealing girls in the ballet.

Meg would never forget what she'd seen that day in the barber shop. Not ever. No girl should ever have to see what she had seen on that day.

The authorities listened calmly to Meg's story, and several officers followed Erik and Meg to the shop, armed.

They walked into the barber shop, guns raised. The shop was silent, unoccupied in the dark. They walked all down and throughout the restaurant, looking for anything. Again, completely empty.

Finally, Meg, Erik, and the officers walked down into the cellars. Later, a reporter would describe the cellar as being as close to hell as any place on earth.

The cellar was very dark, the only light coming from the blazing fire in the oven.

The cellar reeked of a stench that none of the men had ever experienced. Bones littered the floor, and blood stained the ground and the table. An enormous pile of bones and clothing were tossed in the corner. The bones were easily identified: human bones.

One of the men fainted.

Meg's eyes widened, and she shook. A strange croaking noise issued from her throat, and she seemed unable to breathe correctly. Erik groaned.

Taking a deep breath, Meg forced herself to calm. She still shook, but was able to breathe. "M-my God…" she croaked.

As the officers tried to revive the fallen man, Erik spotted what looked like two human beings, lying on the floor by the blazing oven. He walked over, horrified.

With a shock, Erik recognized the barber's face as being one of the two bodies on the floor. It was completely covered in blood, as well as his neck, which looked like it had been cut. The barber was obviously dead, as was the woman he had seemed to be holding.

Erik knelt down next to the two, staring down at them with pity. What had caused the barber, and whoever this woman was, to come to this? Did anyone truly deserve this?

A thought flashed through his mind. Instead of the barber on the floor, dead, he pictured himself. The woman, he pictured as Christine.

Shaking his head, he tried to clear the thought from his mind. He vowed to himself that he would not let his love for her come to anything like this, whatever this was.

Erik glanced over at Meg. She was sitting by the cellar door, her head between her knees, breathing slowly.

Standing up, Erik walked away from the bodies of the dead man and woman, and told the police what he found. They would later find a skeleton in the oven, but it would be burned too badly to be identifiable. As for Mrs. Lovett, the baker, no one knew what became of her.

The bodies of Sweeney Todd and the woman would be buried in the local cemetery. The woman would go in an unnamed grave, her name never known.

**So sorry for the shortness! There wasn't much I could put in this. I hope you liked it, and again, much thanks to Epic One. :D**


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